Palatinate campaign

The Palatinate campaign was the second phase of the Thirty Years' War, lasting from 1620 to 1622. The campaign saw the Catholic forces of the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and the Catholic League defeat Frederick V of Palatinate's Protestant German forces and conquer the Palatinate.

Background
Following the defeat at the Battle of White Mountain in November 1620, the Protestant Bohemian king and German noble Frederick V of Palatinate fled first to Breslau and then to the Netherlands. While he had lost militarily, he still relied on his Protestant allies to fight back against the Catholic forces of the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and the Catholic League.

Campaign
The defending generals Georg Friederich of Baden-Durlach and Christian of Brunswick failed to coordinate their armies properly, so they were defeated by the Imperial general Count Tilly in the battles of Wimpfen and Hochst in May and June of 1622. Ernst von Mansfeld retreated to the Netherlands, abandoning the Palatinate, which was gifted to Maximilian I of Bavaria along with its accompanying position as Elector. In 1623, Christian of Brunswick, who wished to invade Bohemia and join forces with the Transylvanian leader Gabriel Bethlen, advanced from the Netherlands with 21,000 troops. He was forced into battle with Tilly's 30,000 troops, but they were crushed at the Battle of Stadtlohn, seemingly ending the war. However, Denmark's intervention led to the war continuing.